Statement made by the delegation of Saudi Arabia on 18 July 1996

The delegations of the Parties listed below (Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Yemen) and one observer State, the Islamic republic of Iran, formally object to adoption or approval or acceptance of the draft Ministerial Declaration, dated 18 July 1996, for the following reasons:

Lack of opportunity for the Conference of the Parties to discuss the draft Ministerial Declaration;

Failure of the draft Ministerial Declaration to reflect the views of many Parties, as stated by them at the second session of the Conference of the Parties, with the result that the draft Ministerial Declaration reflects only some of the views that exist among the Parties to the Convention;

Non-objective characterization and selective reference to only some of the information in the IPCC Second Assessment Report, with the result that the draft Ministerial Declaration is biased and misleading; and

Failure to adhere to the customary procedures of United Nations bodies in the absence of adoption of rules of procedure for the Conference of the Parties.